I hate to shop, so nothing irritates me more than when someone holds me up in a store. I use cash to pay for all purchases, I only own one credit card and that is for airline tickets and rental cars.

It does crack me up when the check-out person at JCP, Macy's or Herbergers asks me if I want their credit card as I am pulling greenbacks out of my wallet to pay. I usually just say, "No thank you, I don't believe in credit cards." I've had several look at my wryly and say "I wish I didn't".

DH and I got tired of being accosted everytime we left and entered our casino in Vegas about attending a talk regarding time shares. We finally hit upon the perfect solution. We'd smile brightly and say "sorry, we are leaving today." They would back off and we'd be on our merry way. Yes, we said it to the same person more than once but I'm not sure they remembered.

Could you say "I already have a card", even though you don't?

Many years ago, the streets around Washington Square Park were infested with aggressive, high-pressure drug dealers who had been driven out of the park. In the news story on the problem, a father related that he'd told his preteen son, "When they approach you, just tell them you don't use drugs." His son had looked at him pityingly and said, "Dad, that doesn't work, they just pressure you more. Now I just tell them, 'I have my stash.' "

While that might be an extreme example..the kid is right.

"I don't want/have/need x" is an invitation for an unwelcome sales person to sell you on WHY you need X and Y and this, that, and the other.

Where as "I already have a solar power toaster skateboard, thanks anyway" closes the conversation immediately because the sales person is left to scramble up why you'd need more of something you already have. Particularly if it's a solar powered toaster skateboard

It's generally what Boyfriend and I do when accosted by someone who's giving off that 'aggressive sale' kinda vibe or even for particularly 'pushy' bell-ringers;

"Thank you, I already donated"

"No thank you, I have a card for you already"

However if the sales person or bell-ringer is NOT aggressive or pushy I just say honestly "No thank you" or greet the collections person as I would any other person I casually bump into and do not bring up donations.

"Good morning/good evening/ thank you for holding the door/etc" but I don't bring up the topic of donations.

Ugh. I had to be this person at a department store where I worked. I nearly had a panic attack over the sheer rudeness of the approach, because every single cashier had to ask (and get three no's) anyway. There was also no way to get people properly signed up away from the register or customer service, so it was a pretty stupid thing to do anyway. I apologized to every person I approached for what corporate was forcing me to do, and silently wished that someone would chase whoever decided on this idiotic form of marketing around a store while they were short on time, shouting about credit cards. Worse still, my hours were decided based on how many people I got to sign up for the darn things.

There's not much you can do about the poor salespeople - probably they are also in the position that if they don't keep their credit numbers up, they won't get a good amount of hours, and won't be eligible for raises, bonuses, or anything. Write and complain to corporate, and get as many people as you can to write in as well. This constant credit pitching is intrusive, disruptive, and it's not a matter of dedication to get them sold - it's either good fortune to give someone a deal they can use, or forcing your employees to bully your customers into submission. Not great for customer loyalty.